2019 ATP French Open Sunday Betting Preview: Can Matteo Berrettini Make a Deep Run at Roland-Garros?

Sunday features just 16 of the 64 first round ATP matches at the 2019 French Open.

The slate kicks off early, at 5 a.m. E.T., though you can sleep in slightly later if you want to play my favorite bet for tomorrow:

Laslo Djere vs. Albert Ramos Viñolas

Sunday, 8:15 a.m. ET

2019 has been a breakthrough year for Djere, a 23-year-old Serbian, who has gone 13-6 on clay including winning an ATP 500 title at the Rio Open, where he upset Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-3 in the first round; his first career win over a top-ten player.

Djere followed up that Rio title with a semi-final appearance in Sao Paulo, before losing three of his next four matches, and then responding with a 6-3 run in Budapest, Madrid, and Rome including a win over another top-10 player in Juan Martin Del Potro.

Djere is very poised under pressure, has excellent racket control, and keeps rallies alive long enough either to force his opponent into making a mistake or to set himself up to take control of the point.

He has held 80.4% (28th) of his service games on clay over the past year, while his opponent, Albert Ramos-Vinolas ("ARV"), has only held 73.7% (52nd) of his service games.

ARV has the advantage in return stats. He's won 25.2% (34th) of his return games while Djere has only won 21.5% (52nd).

This is Djere's first time as a seeded player at a major, and he's facing a veteran who has made the third round, fourth round, and quarter-finals over the past three years at Roland-Garros.

ARV is also in form, having made the Rounds of 32 at the Rome 1000 Masters after defeating Juame Munar, and Gael Monfils. And he owns a head-to-head win over Djere on clay, but it was a three-set win back in 2017.

Djere has improved significantly as a player since that time. If he can get hot, he's in a part of the bracket where he has a real chance to make a run to the quarter-final, where he would inevitably lose to Rafael Nadal.

The Pick:  Djere -140

Matteo Berrettini vs. Pablo Andújar

Sunday, 5:00 a.m. ET

Berrettini is another 23-year-old in the midst of a breakout year, winning the Arizona Tennis Classic and the Hungarian Open (beating Laslo Djere in the semi-finals), and making the final at the Houston Open before beating Lucas Pouille and Alexander Zverev in Rome.

16 of Berrettini's 22 victories in 2019 have come in straight sets, and he appears to be a player on the cusp of potentially entering the elite tier.

My colleague Daniel J. Scotti also likes Berrettini to make a deep run in Paris.

Pablo Andújar has mostly been lurking around the Challenger circuit in 2019, playing in just nine tour matches. However, he did make the finals in Morocco in early April, beating world No. 27 Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-1 in the semi-final before he lost to Benoit Paire in straight sets in the final.

13 of Andújar's 19 matches in 2019 have ended in straight sets.

He is overmatched here by a player who is a -450 favorite and 10-years his junior, and I think that there is a better than 50-50 chance that Berrettini dispatches Andújar in straight sets.

The Pick: Win 3-0, +110